Back (l-r): Maleny Cricket Club Secretary Steve Seaver and Judius State Account Manager Jason Mash. Front (l-r): Cricket club Captain John Hyde and the Salvation Army's Pat Woolley.

Caloundra City News/Roxanne McCarty-O'Kane

CHRISTMAS will be a little brighter for hundreds of Coast children after the Salvation Army received a generous donation for their Toys for Tots campaign.

The Maleny Hotel's Barbarians cricketers purchased $1000 worth of educational toys from Judius Toys and the company graciously doubled their efforts, donating a further $2000 worth of toys to the campaign, which is running in conjunction with the Adopt a Family appeal.

Salvation Army community services director Pat Woolley was delighted to receive the carload of toys at the Maleny Hotel yesterday and said the efforts of the club members and Judius would allow children who would otherwise go without this Christmas to know the joy of opening a present.

“We have 246 families on our Adopt a Family hamper list this year,” Mr Woolley said.

“And all of those families will be receiving some of these toys just in time for Christmas.

“It's great to see so many people coming on board these initiatives to help those less fortunate in our community.”

Maleny Cricket Club secretary Steve Seaver said although this was the first time they had made a donation to the Salvation Army, they were determined to donate five times that amount next year.

“We heard the largest donation they had received from a club was $5000, so that's going to be our target,” he said.

If you would like to make donations to the Toys for Tots campaign, contact the Salvation Army on 5493 6053.

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